Rotary explosive-engine.



C. W. LINDSAY.

ROTARY EXPLOSIVE ENGINE.

APPLIGATION FILED JULY 2 1, 1909.

Patented July 4, 1911.

* 2 SHEETSSHEBT 2.

Cfiarlas' Wlllhdyay Witness UNI ED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES WESLEY LINDSAY, OF ANTI-ION, IOWA.

ROTARY: EXPLOSIVE-ENGIIYEL Specification of Letters Patent. I P t nt J 4, .19

Application filed July 24, 1909. Serial No. 509,273.

To all tvho'm-it may concern;

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. LINDSAY,

a citizen of the United States,-residing at Anthon, in the county of Voodbury and State of Iowa, have invented new and useful Improvements in- Rotary Explosive-Engines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to rotary, explosive pair of sections 2 and 3 provided at their adjacent ends with outstanding flanges or extensions 4 through which are passed coupling bolts 5. The inner ends of the sections, which are disposed in opposingrelatio'n,, fo rm cylinders '6' and 7 and an .lnterposedicrank chamber 8, each of said cylinderszbeing provided with spaced circumferentialheat radiating rails 9, adapted to keep the cylinders cool.-

" f The casing is mountedfor rotation with vthe rotary shaft section 10 which enters one side of the crank chamber 8 and is provided with an annular flange 11 secured to the adjacent side of the crank chamber by bolts or screws 12. The crank chamber is laterally expanded at its sides and providedwith an opening 13 of larger diameter than the entering end of said shaft section 10, to ad mit the latter and provide for the reception of the sleeve of one of the piston cranks, as hereinafter described.

The casing is adapted to rotate upon an oppositeor fixed shaft section 18 arranged inaxial'alinement with the seCtionlO and jcylinders 6 and 7 are I which pistons are adapted to move at'the Z limits oftheir power strokes into the crank chamber and .are adapted to compress the explosive charges on their outward strokeswithin the outer ends 1 suitable type of igniting f of the "as a'whole the engine casing, composed'of a forces of the explosions.

entering the offset side of the crank chamher 8. The two shaft'sectionsare respectively journaled and bolted or otherwise fixed to a suitable supporting frame st-r'uc'- ture,

not shown. The shaft 13 is hollow to prov de a fuel inlet passage 14 which communicates with the crank chamber, and

' extends through an opening in the adjacent chamber, which side of the ;chamber is expanded to sleeve 15 between which and the shaft is. ar-' ranged a bushing 16.-

side. of said provide a bearing Arranged to reciprocate in the'opposed pist6ns'17 and 18,

of the cylinders, exploded by any means. Each pispassage for the flow gas or fuel mixture therethrough from the crank chamber into the outer'ends of the cylinders and is provided at its outer wherein said charges are ton is hollow to form a I end with aheador partition 19 formed with an admission port 20 controlled by an out- I wardly opening admission valve .21.

Each valve 21 is in the form-of a concavoconvex disk adapted to bear against the outer face of the head 19 around the port 20 and to occupy when in closed position a cavity 22 in the end of the piston formed by inwardly offsetting said head, by which the valve is adapted to lie flush with the end of the piston to prevent possibility of deflection or injury tosaid valve from the The valve is provided with a stem 23 projecting through the port 20 into the hollow body of the piston and passing through an opening in the free end of a lever 24, in engagement with which it is retained by a nut 25. Bosses 26 are formed at opposite sides of the piston, as shown. The lever 24, has a counterweight 27 at its free end which is movable in the space between one of said bosses 26 and the head 19-, while the intermediate portion of the lever is formed with a V-shaped recess force in the operation of the engine.

or offset 28 arranged to rock upon a knifebearing 29 having a threaded engagement with the head 19. A spring 2. is arranged in a socket in the boss 26 and bears against the counterweight slightlyto cooperate therewith in normally holding the valve closed against centrifugal action, when the valve is not subjected to the suction action of the piston by which. it is opened. The weight 29 also serves to counterbalance the lever and prevent its closing under centrifugal,

Transverse pivot pins 29 extend between the bosses 26 of the respective pistons, ,and pivotally engaging these pinsbetween the bosses are the outer or sleeved ends 30 of connecting rods 31 and 82, between which sleeved ends of the rods and the pins are inserted suitable bearing bushings 83. The inner ends of the connecting rods are provided with sleeves 34 pivotally engaging wrist pins 35cm a double crank 36 arranged in the crank chamber between the two shaft'sections, one end of said. cranlobeing fixed by one of the wrist' pins to the in'nerend of the shaft section 13, while the other end' of the crank is provided with a sleeve 37 projecting into the opening 13 of the side wall of the crank chamber and turning in contact with 'a bearing bushing 38 mounted upon the inner endof the shaft section '10. By 'this'construction and mode ofconnecting the crank, pistons and easing, it .will be-understood that in the reciproca tion of the pistons the casing will revolve with the shaft section 10 and upon and about the shaft section 13, which latter remains'fixed in the operation of the engine. The pistons have a simultaneous inward and outward movement, to which end the connecting rods and crank are laterally bent oroffset to permit the rods to move past one another in parallel, planes into andout .of

the crank chamber 8. The explosive charges are simultaneously admitted througl'i the pistons from the crank chamber intoithe cylinders" 6 and 7, compressed'on the out strokes of the pistons therein and then simultaneously exploded, driving the pistons whose cranks are arranged at an angle of 180, inwardly on their working strokes. The pistons on their out strokes draw the fuel mixture from a suitable source of supply through the feed passage 14 in the shaft section 13 into the crank chamberS, and on the ensuing inward strokes of the pistons a proper proportion of this fuel mixture is admitted through the opening of the valve 21 ineach piston into the outer endof'the associated cylinder, in which it is compressed and exploded on the subsequent outward movement of the piston, the valves 21 closing as-soon as, the pressure in the explosion chambers-of the cylinders exceeds that in the crank chamber to prevent possibility of ignition of the mixture in the crank cl'ian'iher, as well as the exhaust of the spent gases thereinlo.

The outer end of each cylinder is preferablycnlargod to provide the explosion ch-ai'uber 39 and is provided with a main exhaust port it) controlled by an inwardly opening valve having an outwardly extending stein i2 pivotally connected with the intermediate portion of a lever 43,

which is'pivotally mounted at one end upon a screw 4st fixed in the adjacent flanges 9. The opposite end of the lever, which extends transversely of the cylinder, is connected by a rod or pitman 45 with a rocker arm 46 having a projection which engages one of two cam grooves .47 in a cam collar l8 fixed to the shaft section 1.3. The rocker arms associated with the pitman rods 45 of the exhaust valves of the two cylinders engage and are operated by the grooves of this cam, which are properly formed to secure a timed operation of. the valves in the action of; the engine to exhaust the spent gases at or near the time when the pistons reach the limit of their working stroke. I y In order to provide for the exhaust of a portion of the gases from each cylinder prior to the discharge of the main body of the spent gases through the ports a0, the cylinder is formed at diametrically opposite sides with auxiliary exhaust ports 49 uncovered by the piston at the limit of its working stroke and closed thereby immediately after the beginning of its outward or compression'stroke. These auxiliary exhaust ports communicate with exterior exhaust chambers surrounding these cylinders, each of said chambers consisting of an annular perforated drum supported by the flanges 9 and through the perforations in which the gases are adapted to discharge in sucha manner as-to prevent any objectionable noise, said drums thus serving the capacity of mufflers. 4

From the foregoing description, the con struction and mode of operation of my improved engine will be readily understood, and it will be 'seen'that it provides and enables greater power to be applied for rotating the cylinder and transmitting power therefrom. v i

I claim casing having opposed cylinders and an insis ' iio termediate crank chamber, the sides 'of said chamber being expanded and formed with bearing openings, a shaft embodying relatively fixed and rotary sections extending into said bearing openings, the fixed section being hollow and forming a fuel feed passage and the rotary section being provided with a flange secured to the expanded portion of the adjacent side of the crank chamnecting rods coupling said pistons with the her, a double crank inelosed in said cham- Wrists of the double crank 10 her, one end of said crank having a Wrist- In testimony whereof I afiix my signature pin fixed to the inner end of the fixed shaft in presence of two Witnesses.

5 section and the other end of the crank hav- CHARLES W'ESLEY LINDSAY.

ing a sleeve journaled on the inner end of Witnesses: the rotary shaft section hollow, valved pis- T. O. HESTER,

tons operating in said cylinders, and con- J. P. WALLING. 

